


Little Monsters

by ahappykappa



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Christie misses Robert, Joseph and Mary are not together, M/M, Robert and Mary are BFFs, Vague Time Period, past Joseph/Robert, very brief implication of Robert's alcoholism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 12:58:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11760387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahappykappa/pseuds/ahappykappa
Summary: Christie knows that everything happens for a reason, but it’s hard to fight away her bitterness when Joseph is sitting with the Holy Book open in his lap, reading by lamplight as if Robert never happened.(Past RobertxJoseph)





	Little Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted more fics with Christie + Robert getting along with Joseph's kids, so I made one!
> 
> There's a lot of ambiguity here surrounding the time period/existence of the cult ending/etc. In any case, Joseph and Mary are not together at this point and Mary and Robert are friends.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

               Christie knows that everything happens for a reason, but it’s hard to fight away her bitterness when Joseph is sitting with the Holy Book open in his lap, reading by lamplight as if Robert never happened.

She crosses her arms behind her back, waiting. He looks up at her with an easy smile.

“Hey there, sweetheart.” He pats the cushion beside him and she climbs onto the couch. “Almost bedtime, isn’t it?”

“Dad, is Robert ever coming back?”

Joseph has a great poker face. He slides a bookmark in the page he’s on and sets the Bible aside to pull Christie into his lap.

“What do you mean? He never left. You see him all the time. What about at the barbecue last week?”

Robert had spent most of the barbecue avoiding gazes and drinking with Mary. Christie works the fabric of her dress in her hands and purses her brows, thinking hard. “It’s different now,” she decides, looking up at him. Her blue eyes are intense, and he quickly diverts the subject.

“What made you think of Mr. Small, Christie?”

“I wanted a bedtime story,” she said.

“Oh? Well, I can read you a bedtime story,” Joseph grinned, scooping her up in one arm and the Bible in the other. Her eyes widened as he carried her up the stairs to her room.

“No, Dad,” she said as he placed her on her bed. Christian barely looked up at them from his side of the room before returning to his video game. “I want to hear Robert’s kind of story.”

“Robert’s stories are called _lies_ , Christie, and you know how the man upstairs feels about lies.”

“Robert tells the best stories,” Christian put in. “Like the one about the ghost in the woods.”

“And the rabid squirrels.”

“And how Mr. Bloodmarch is a vampire.”

“He’s got a cult!”

“He’s going to enslave us all!”

“Enslave us all!”

“Kids,” Joseph interrupted, frowning. “There aren’t any such things as ghosts or vampires.”

“What about rabid squirrels?” Christian blinked.

“And cults?” Christie grinned. Joseph smiled and poked her nose.

“What you should really worry about is the _tickle monster_!” he cried, and Christie gave a preemptive gasp before erupting into giggles as he tickled her sides mercilessly. Christian looked on, stifling a laugh.

“You’re next!” Joseph declared, raising his arms and wiggling his fingers, and Christian gasped, practically tripping out of his bed and dashing away. “It’s the return of the Spider King!”

“Christie, help!” he called.

“Every man for himself!” Christie yelled back, laughing as Joseph turned on her again.

The subject of Robert was momentarily forgotten, but after Christie had been tucked in and given a goodnight kiss, her mind began to wander again. Turning her head to make sure that Christian was asleep, she carefully reached into her pillowcase and pulled out a slightly-smushed stuffed rabbit. She preened its ears and ran a finger reverently over the stitches re-attaching its head to its shoulders. Christian had done the surgery on his own while Christie attended a church function with Joseph. It was the one toy she had quietly taken to her father with as much stuffing as she could salvage and asked him to repair, and ever since, she’d kept it carefully hidden.

Robert hadn’t wanted to go to the street fair. She wasn’t sure how Joseph had wrangled him into it. All she knew was that she’d been left alone with Robert while Joseph took Chris and Christian to play a game she didn’t like and Robert, annoyed with this uncompanionable silence (probably due to her blank staring), had taken her to the Balloon Darts booth and won her the toy.

“Here,” he’d said, extending it to her. “You like this? Like toys? You look like the kinda kid that probably haunts her toys. Or something.”

She’d stared at him for a moment, then smiled and taken the toy. She’d silently dubbed it Robbie Rabbit. He’d relaxed somewhat after that, and the silence became easier. And the more he was around, the less silence there was. He was good at telling stories, and he quickly found that the twins were more than receptive if they involved some level of paranormal activity (most of them did).

Christie was sweeter when they were alone, milder when Christian wasn’t around. Sometimes Robert found himself looking at her and thinking of a younger Val. Christie was intuitive. She didn’t miss the sadness in his eyes. If anything, it endeared him to her even more- and the more she encouraged him, the more he smiled.

Now, he was gone, and he didn’t smile so much anymore.

 

“Come on, let’s go look for sharp stuff in the woods.” Christian was tugging at Christie’s arm, but her gaze was fixed on Robert. He was sitting on a park bench, alone, eyes downcast and elbows resting on his knees. Christian looked from his sister to Robert.

“Wanna scare him?” he asked, smiling.

“Go on without me. I have some business to take care of.”

Christian shrugged and took off into the woods. Christie sauntered over to Robert, standing just uncomfortably close enough and fixing him with a dead gaze until he finally noticed her and startled. He had been flicking a pocketknife open and closed in his fist and thrust it nearly in her face.

“Christ,” he hissed.

“Our Lord and Savior,” she answered, grinning. She sniffed the air. “You smell funny.”

“I thought I told you at some point not to sneak up on me. You don’t want a face full of knife, kid.”

Christie looked around, making sure she wasn’t being watched. The other adults and children at the park were all preoccupied, including her own father, who was reading. She climbed up onto the bench next to him.

“Hey, this is my Thinking Bench,” he started. “I come here to think. I need time to myself, you know-”

“My bunny is sick,” she interrupted him. Robert quirked a brow at her.

“What bunny? Have you upgraded to dissecting small mammals now, or is that some kind of secret code?” he asked. She produced Robbie Rabbit and showed him to Robert, who squinted at it, then at her. “What do you want me to do about it? Does he require a blood sacrifice?”

Christie grinned and shook her head. “Not this time.” She set the toy on his knee, where it sagged over.

“See? Robbie is sad because he hasn’t seen you. He needs to hear an adventure.”

Robert was quiet for a moment, letting her words process. He stuck his tongue out at her.

“Robbie is a dope. Wait, you named him Robbie?”

Christie smirked and Robert rolled his eyes. “Why can’t Robbie just go on his own adventures?”

“Because he’s lonely and needs an adventure partner.”

“Why don’t you take him somewhere?”

“Because I already _have_ an adventure partner,” Christie said, gesturing vaguely in Christian’s direction. Robert jerked around instinctively, knife in hand, and she giggled.

“Tell me- I mean, tell Robbie an adventure,” she demanded.

Robert sighed, flicking his knife shut and tucking it into the pocket of his jacket. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll tell him the scariest story Maple Bay has to offer.”

“What’s it about?”

“It’s about a monster that eats hearts.”

Christie grinned, eyes wide, and Robert huffed, “And all its little monster babies, too.”

 

“Kids, it’s time to roll out! We’ve got to be at the church in twenty minutes.”

“Yes, father,” they chorused, putting on a show for the other parents. Christie watched her father and brother head towards the car and glanced back over to where Robert was still sitting. He was playing with something in his hands now, but put it away as she walked back over to him.

“Robbie says thank you for the story,” she said, pulling the rabbit out. She took one of his hands and placed the toy in his palm. “I think he should stay with you,” she said. “Sometimes when you’re lonely, you need a friend more than someone else does.”

Robert wasn’t sure if she was talking about the rabbit or him.

“C’mon, Christie!” Joseph called. He made eye contact with Robert, just for a moment, and put on a winning smile. Robert growled softly and shooed Christie away.

“Thanks, kid. Now get.”

“Were you saying hi to Mr. Small?” he heard Joseph ask her. He sighed and looked down at the toy curled in his hand, rubbing his calloused thumb over the stitches keeping its head on. He frowned, suddenly remembering where he’d seen it before.

 

“What is that?” Mary snorted after she’d climbed into Robert’s passenger seat. Robbie Rabbit was sitting proudly on his dashboard, right next to his dancing hula girl. “And I thought these stickers were tacky.”

“If you’ve got a damn problem with Robbie Rabbit, you can get out,” Robert said.

“Jeez. Who hurt you?” She smirked, picking the rabbit up, but her lips settled into a solemn line when she saw its surgical scars.

“Let’s go get a drink,” Robert grumbled, shifting the car into drive.


End file.
